Title: Hellenic Immortal
Author: Gene Doucette
Publisher: Smith Publicity — The Writer’s Coffee Shop
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy
In Immortal, Gene Doucette’s first novel in this series, we met Adam, an immortal man who is not a vampire, simply a man who doesn’t age. Apart from that, he’s an ordinary kind of guy with a wonderful wit, and it’s a pleasure to meet him again in this fascinating sequel, a clever blend of history, mythology, fantasy, adventure, mystery and romance.
Blurb: An oracle has predicted the sojourner’s end, which is a problem for Adam insofar as he has never encountered an oracular prediction that didn’t come true . . . and he is the sojourner. To survive, he’s going to have to figure out what a beautiful ex-government analyst, an eco-terrorist, a rogue FBI agent, and the world’s oldest religious cult all want with him, and fast.
“Very occasionally, I will pop up in the historical record. Most of the time I’m not at all easy to spot, because most of the time I’m just a guy who does a thing and then disappears again into the background behind someone-or-other who’s busy doing something much more important. But there are a couple of rare occasions when I get a starring role.”
–Adam the Immortal
I love the way ancient history, mythology and present time flow seamlessly together in this story. Here we delve into the Elysusian mysteries, the satyr and the ‘god’ Dionysius. Adam’s extreme age allows up to see how far modern renditions of the rites have departed from their original intent, and how easily such rites can be appropriated for the aggrandisement of a charismatic individual. There’s even a message there for anyone who thinks they can unleash a supernatural power and use it for their own purposes—what if they don’t see things the way you do?
The story is written in an easy conversational tone. It starts fairly slowly, but gives us time to get to know Adam, Mike—one of the supporting characters—and to build the mystery. By the end of the book, it’s really moving along and we’re wondering how Adam is going to get himself out of this alive.
Although it’s an entertaining read and Gene Doucette is a good writer, the book was full of unattached and out of order phrases. I’m assuming, however, that this is just the version I had and not what’s available for purchase—it came to me as an ARC through Netgally, and ARC’s are sometimes not the final version.
